28. October 2009 13:38
Posted by SamSari
Making big changes to any organization can be an uphill battle. Even the best strategies are bound to face resistance from the very individuals who stand to benefit the most from new ways of thinking and working. However, organizations rarely focus on these kinds of implementation challenges, choosing instead to employ the majority of their time and resources on devising a strong strategy.
The initial mistake made by many leaders and decision makers is to assume that the benefits of a solid strategy will immediately be clear to the stakeholders. The assumption is that when reasonable people see the logic of making the change, implementation will occur more or less spontaneously. The truth is many people have an instinctive negative reaction to change. For these individuals, the change message needs to speak to them on an emotional level, showing that for every dark cloud of doubt and uncertainty, there is a ‘silver lining’ in the benefits of success.
In our experience working with large scale, geographically dispersed organizations, we’ve learned that failing to acknowledge the power of buy-in is one of the main reasons that more than two thirds of all strategic implementations fail to succeed.
So how do you appeal to the people you need to make your strategy happen? The SamSari team took a moment to sit down and share some of their thoughts on this issue. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the play button.
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